Ava–Hanthawaddy War (1401–1403) orders of battle

This is a list of orders of battle for the Second Ava–Hanthawaddy War in which the Royal Ava Armed Forces defended an invasion by the Royal Hanthawaddy Armed Forces between 1401 and 1403.

Hanthawaddy forces attacked Ava territories from Tharrawaddy to Tagaung in 1401–1402, and up to Prome in 1402–1403.

Background

Sources

The orders of battles for Ava in this article are sourced from the main royal chronicles—the Maha Yazawin, the Yazawin Thit and the Hmannan Yazawin, which primarily narrate the war from the Ava side.^{[note 1]} The orders of battle for Hanthawaddy Pegu are mainly sourced from Nai Pan Hla's version of the Razadarit Ayedawbon, which has incorporated narratives of the Pak Lat Chronicles.^{[note 2]}

Adjustment of strength figures

The military strength figures in this article have been reduced by an order of magnitude from those reported in the chronicles, following G.E. Harvey's and Victor Lieberman's analyses of Burmese chronicles' military strength figures in general.^{[note 3]}

Invasion of Ava (1401–1402)

Circa 15 November 1401,^{[note 4]} Hanthawaddy forces led by King Razadarit invaded Ava by land and by river.

Hanthawaddy Pegu

The Razadarit Ayedawbon chronicle provides the most detailed description of Pegu's order of battle: (1) a naval invasion force (~5000 to 7000 troops)^{[note 5]} that sailed up to Ava, (2) a 3000-strong army that laid siege to Prome (Pyay), and (3) an army of unknown strength that guarded the capital Pegu (Bago).^[1] The main royal chronicles provide higher figures, ranging from 6000 troops and 500 war boats (Yazawin Thit)^[2] to 16,000 troops and 300 war boats (Maha Yazawin and Hmannan Yazawin).^[3][4]

Pegu Order of Battle, 1401–1402
Chronicle	Unit	Commanders	Strength[note 6]	Reference(s)
Razadarit Ayedawbon (c. 1560s)	Royal Hanthawaddy Armed Forces	King Razadarit	Navy: 13 flotillas (5000–7000 troops) Army: 3 regiments (3000 troops)	[1]
	Vanguard flotillas	Lagun Ein Smin Upakaung the Elder † Byat Za	3 flotillas, 130 war boats:  · 30 ironclad war boats  · 50 copper-clad war boats  · 50 general armored war boats
	Main flotillas	Smin Sam Lek Smin Phut-Phit Smin Bayan Smin Than-Kye Smin Awa Mingyi Smin Awa Naing Razadarit	7 flotillas
	Rearguard flotillas	Dein Mani-Yut Smin Ye-Thin-Yan Smin Bya Paik	3 flotillas
	Prome Area Army	Smin Yawgarat Maha Thamun Saw Maha-Rit	3 regiments (3000 troops, 150 cavalry, 50 elephants)
	Capital Defense Corps	E-Ba-Ye Zeik-Bye	troop strength not reported
Maha Yazawin (1724)	Royal Hanthawaddy Armed Forces	Razadarit	16,000 troops, 300 boats	[3]
	Navy	Dein Mani-Yut Byat Za Smin Awa Naing E-Ba-Ye Zeik-Bye Razadarit	?
	Prome Area Army	Saw Maha-Rit	?
Yazawin Thit (1798)	Royal Hanthawaddy Armed Forces	Razadarit	6000+ troops, 500 boats	[2]
	Navy	Lagun Ein Smin Upakaung the Elder † Smin Awa Naing Byat Za E-Kaung-Pein Dein Mani-Yut Smin Ye-Thin-Yan Baw Kyaw Smin Yawgarat Thilawa of Bassein Razadarit	6000 troops, 500 boats
	Prome Area Army	Saw Maha-Rit	?
Hmannan Yazawin (1832)	Royal Hanthawaddy Armed Forces	Razadarit	16,000 troops, 300 boats	[4]
	Navy	Dein Mani-Yut Byat Za Smin Awa Naing E-Ba-Ye Zeik-Bye Razadarit	?
	Prome Area Army	Saw Maha-Rit	?

Ava

The Maha Yazawin chronicle (1724) names 12 forts along the Irrawaddy river to face the invasion forces.^[3] The Yazawin Thit (1798) mentions only Prome, Ava, Myede, and Pagan in its narrative,^[2] and the Hmannan Yazawin (1832) repeats the Maha Yazawin's account.^[4]

Ava Order of Battle, 1401–1402
Unit	Commander	Strength[note 6]	Theater	Reference(s)
Royal Ava Armed Forces	King Minkhaung I	12+ regiments		[3][4]
Prome Regiment	Letya Pyanchi of Prome	including battalions from Gu-Htut, Hlaing and Tharrawaddy	Prome region
Myede Regiment	Lord of Myede		Myede
Sagu Regiment	Theinkhathu II of Sagu		Sagu
Salin Regiment	Nawrahta of Salin		Salin
Pakhan Nge Regiment	Lord of Pakhan Nge		Pakhan Nge
Sale Regiment	Lord of Sale		Sale
Pagan Regiment	Uzana of Pagan		Pagan (Bagan)
Talok Regiment	Yazathu of Talok		Talok
Pakhan Gyi Regiment	Tarabya I of Pakhan		Pakhan Gyi
Sagaing Regiment	Prince Theiddat		Sagaing
Singu Regiment	Baya Gamani of Singu		Singu
Capital Defense Corps	Minkhaung I	Unspecified numbers of infantry, cavalry and war elephants	Ava capital region

Furthermore, the Ava court claimed that the kingdom's defensive network included over 50 fortified towns whose rulers were loyal to Minkhaung. According to Michael Aung-Thwin, the forts were "strategically arranged throughout the kingdom so that each town was within one day's or two days' march of another."^[5] The following are the lists reported in the three main chronicles.

Ava's fortified towns and cities, 1401–1402
Chronicle	Total	Along the Irrawaddy	Southern Division	Northern Division	Reference(s)
Maha Yazawin (1724)	54	Chundaung Myadaung Tagaung Ngasingu Singu Ywatha Sagaing Ava Pakhan Gyi Pakhan Nge Talok Pagan Sale Yenangyaung Salin Sagu Legaing Myede Thayet Mindon Mindat Prome Ahlwe Gu-Htut Tharrawaddy	Toungoo Taungdwin Yamethin Wadi Yindaw Pinle Hlaingdet Nyaungyan Myinsaing Mekkhaya Pindale Pyinzi Kyaukpadaung Pahtanago Pin Natmauk Thagaya	Myedu Yene Siboktara Sitha Dabayin Badon Amyint Kanni Bangyi Yaw Htilin Laungshay	[6]
Yazawin Thit (1798)	41	Chundaung Myadaung Tagaung Singu Ywatha Sagaing Ava Pakhan Gyi Pakhan Nge Talok Pagan Sale Yenangyaung Salin Sagu Legaing Myede Thayet Mindon Mindat Prome Ahlwe Gu-Htut Tharrawaddy	Toungoo Taungdwin Yamethin Yindaw Thagaya	Myedu Ngarane Siboktara Sitha Dabayin Badon Amyint Kanni Bangyi Yaw Htilin Laungshay	[7]
Hmannan Yazawin (1832)	53	Chundaung Myadaung Tagaung Ngasingu Singu Ywatha Sagaing Ava Pakhan Gyi Pakhan Nge Talok Pagan Sale Yenangyaung Salin Sagu Legaing Myede Thayet Mindon Mindat Prome Ahlwe Gu-Htut Tharrawaddy	Toungoo Taungdwin Yamethin Wadi Yindaw Pinle Hlaingdet Nyaungyan Myinsaing Mekkhaya Pindale Pyinzi Kyaukpadaung Pahtanago Natmauk Thagaya	Myedu Ngarane Siboktara Sitha Dabayin Badon Amyint Kanni Bangyi Yaw Htilin Laungshay	[8]

Of the 17 Southern Division fortifications reported in the Maha Yazawin,^[6] at least twelve are located in the Ava capital region, not in the south. Indeed, the Yazawin Thit omits the twelve and reports only five in the Southern Division. Furthermore, it omits the Ngasingu fort, and keeps just the nearby Singu fort in the Irrawaddy Division.^[7] The Hmannan Yazawin largely follows the Maha Yazawin's list, excluding the fort at Pin, while keeping the nearby Natmauk fort.^[8] Note that Michael Aung-Thwin gives a total of 53 forts, citing the Maha Yazawin,^[9] even though it is the Hmannan's list that sums up to 53.

Battle of Sale (April 1402)

Chronicles do provide little information with regard to the units involved. The Razadarit Ayedawbon mentions Smin Upakaung the Younger as a cavalry commander in the Hanthawaddy detachment from the retreating Hanthawaddy navy that tried to raid Sale. The main chronicles say two cavalry battalions sent down from Ava defended the town.^[10][11][12]

Hanthawaddy Pegu

Pegu Order of Battle, 1402
Unit	Commander	Strength[note 6]	Reference(s)
Sale Expedition Force	?	?	[13]
Cavalry battalion	Smin Upakaung the Younger	?	[13]

Ava

Ava Order of Battle, 1402
Unit	Commander	Strength[note 6]	Reference(s)
Sale Regiment	Lord of Sale	?	[note 7]
1st Cavalry Battalion	Baya Gamani of Singu	150 horses
2nd Cavalry battalion	Yazathingyan of Siboktara	150 horses

Second siege of Prome (1402)

Hanthawaddy Pegu

The following is the Hanthawaddy order of battle as listed in the Yazawin Thit chronicle.^[14] The Maha Yazawin and Hmannan chronicles mention only Razadarit, Dein Mani-Yut and Byat Za as commanders.^[15][16] The Razadarit Ayedawbon only says that a combined land and naval forces reinvaded again, right after the new year, without listing an order of battle.^[17]

Pegu Order of Battle, 1402
Unit	Commander	Strength[note 6]	Theater	Reference(s)
Royal Hanthawaddy Armed Forces	Razadarit	10,000 troops	Prome, Ahlwe, Gu-Htut, Hlaing	[14]
Army	Byat Za E-Ba-Ye Zeik-Bye Baw Kyaw Smin Bya Paik	4 regiments (3000 troops, 10 elephants)
Navy	Dein Mani-Yut Smin Yawgarat Upakaung the Younger Lagun Ein Smin Pun-Si E-Kaung-Pein Smin Maw-Khwin Razadarit	7000 troops, 200 armored war boats

Ava

Ava Order of Battle, 1402
Unit	Commander	Strength[note 6]	Theater	Reference(s)
Prome Corps	Letya Pyanchi of Prome		Prome, Ahlwe, Gu-Htut, Hlaing	[15][14][16]
Prome Regiment	Letya Pyanchi of Prome
Ahlwe battalion	Tuyin Ponnya of Ahlwe
Gu-Htut battalion	Baya Kyawthu of Gu-Htut

Battle of Thaymathauk (c. early December 1402)

Ava

Ava Order of Battle, 1402
Unit	Commander	Strength[note 6]	Reference(s)
Vanguard Army	Thado of Myohla	5 regiments (5000 troops, 300 cavalry, 20 war elephants)	[18][19][20] [note 8]
Pakhan Regiment	Tarabya I of Pakhan
Pagan Regiment	Uzana of Pagan
Taungdwin Regiment	Thihapate III of Taungdwin
Talok Regiment	Yazathu of Talok
Myohla Regiment	Thado of Myohla

Hanthawaddy Pegu

Pegu Order of Battle, 1402
Unit	Commander	Strength[note 6]	Reference(s)
Prome Area Army	Byat Za	7 regiments (4000 troops, 80 cavalry, 10 war elephants)	[18][19][20][note 9]
1st Regiment	Lagun Ein
2nd Regiment	Upakaung the Younger
3rd Regiment	Smin Bya Paik
4th Regiment	Baw Kyaw
5th Regiment	E-Ba-Ye Zeik-Bye
6th Regiment	Smin Awa Naing
7th Regiment	Byat Za

Battle of Nawin (December 1402)

The battle of Nawin took place on 26 December 1402.^{[note 10]} It was the last battle of the war. Peace negotiations began about 10 days after the battle, c. 5 January 1403.^[21]

Ava

None of the main royal chronicles provides a specific order battle for Ava, except to say that the army included regiments from the Shan states.^[22][23] According to the Razadarit Ayedawbon and Yazawin Thit chronicles, the remnants of the Vanguard Army defeated in the battle of Thaymathauk also joined the main army.^[24][19]

Ava Order of Battle, December 1402
Unit	Commander	Strength[note 6]	Reference(s)
Main Army	Minkhaung I	12,000 troops, 700 cavalry, 30 war elephants	[22][23] [note 11]

Hanthawaddy Pegu

Chronicles say that the Nawin fort was defended by three regiments, without specifying the troop strength.

Pegu Order of Battle, December 1402
Unit	Commander	Strength[note 6]	Reference(s)
Nawin Army	E-Ba-Ye Zeik-Bye	3 regiments	[22][23][25]
1st Regiment	E-Ba-Ye Zeik-Bye
2nd Regiment	Baw Kyaw †
3rd Regiment	Smin Bya Paik †

Notes

1. See (Maha Yazawin Vol. 1 2006: 311, 319–320), (Yazawin Thit Vol. 1 2012: 213, 218–219) and (Hmannan Vol. 1 2003: 446–447, 457–459).
2. See (Pan Hla 2005: 205–206, 224, 227–228) for the orders of battle. See (Pan Hla 2005: 222, 223, 225, 226, 227, 228, 229) all of which refer to the "Burmese language manuscript", which by Pan Hla means the Burmese language Razadarit Ayedawbon chronicle.
3. See (Harvey 1925: 333–335)'s "Numerical Note". (Lieberman 2014: 98) writing on the First Toungoo period concurs: "Military mobilizations were probably more of a boast than a realistic estimate. Modern industrial states have difficulty placing 10% of their people under arms."
4. (Pan Hla 2005: 205, footnote 2): Tuesday, 9th waxing of Nadaw 763 ME = Monday, 14 November 1401. If it was on a Tuesday, the date should be 15 November 1401.
5. (Pan Hla 2005: 205, footnote 1): In the Binnya Dala's version of the chronicle, referred to as "the Burmese language version" by the editor Nai Pan Hla, the troop strength of the naval invasion force was at most 5000 strong. Nonetheless, Pan Hla used "70,000 troops" in the main text (Pan Hla 2005: 205), which translates to 7000 troops after adjusting by an order of magnitude per (Harvey 1925: 333–335).
6. Unless otherwise stated, the military mobilization figures in this article are reduced by an order of magnitude from those reported in the royal chronicles, per G.E. Harvey's analysis in his History of Burma (1925) in the section Numerical Note (pp. 333–335).
7. (Maha Yazawin Vol. 1 2006: 318) identifies the commanders as Baya Gamani and Yazathingyan. (Yazawin Thit Vol. 1 2012: 218) says the commanders were the brothers Nga Chit Swe and Nga Chit Thin. (Hmannan Vol. 1 2003: 455–456) follows the Maha Yazawin's narrative.
8. (Pan Hla 2005: 224) says Minkhaung sent 30,000 troops to relieve the siege of Prome.
9. According to Pan Hla's version of the Razadarit Ayedawbon (Pan Hla 2005: 225), the Hanthawaddy strength figures were: 30,000 troops and 70 war elephants.
10. (Yazawin Thit Vol. 1 2012: 220, footnote 3): Tuesday, 3rd waxing of Tabodwe 764 ME = 26 December 1402
11. (Yazawin Thit Vol. 1 2012: 219): 18,000 troops, 700 cavalry, 30 elephants.
    (Pan Hla 2005: 227): 7000 troops, 300 cavalry, 20 elephants

References

1. Pan Hla 2005: 205–206
2. Yazawin Thit Vol. 1 2012: 213
3. Maha Yazawin Vol. 1 2006: 311
4. Hmannan Vol. 1 2003: 446–447
5. Aung-Thwin 2017: 75
6. Maha Yazawin Vol. 1 2006: 311, 315
7. Yazawin Thit Vol. 1 2012: 213, 216
8. Hmannan Vol. 1 2003: 446–447, 452
9. Aung-Thwin 2017: 255, 342
10. Maha Yazawin Vol. 1 2006: 318
11. Yazawin Thit Vol. 1 2012: 218
12. Hmannan Vol. 1 2003: 455–456
13. Pan Hla 2005: 223
14. Yazawin Thit Vol. 1 2012: 218–219
15. Maha Yazawin Vol. 1 2006: 319
16. Hmannan Vol. 1 2003: 457
17. Pan Hla 2005: 224
18. Maha Yazawin Vol. 1 2006: 319–320
19. Yazawin Thit Vol. 1 2012: 219
20. Hmannan Vol. 1 2003: 458–459
21. Yazawin Thit Vol. 1 2012: 220–221
22. Maha Yazawin Vol. 1 2006: 320–321
23. Hmannan Vol. 1 2003: 459
24. Pan Hla 2005: 227
25. Pan Hla 2005: 228

Bibliography

• Aung-Thwin, Michael A. (2017). Myanmar in the Fifteenth Century. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press. ISBN 978-0-8248-6783-6.
• Harvey, G. E. (1925). History of Burma: From the Earliest Times to 10 March 1824. London: Frank Cass & Co. Ltd.
• Kala, U (2006) [1724]. Maha Yazawin (in Burmese). Vol. 1–3 (4th printing ed.). Yangon: Ya-Pyei Publishing.
• Lieberman, Victor B. (2014) [1984]. Burmese Administrative Cycles: Anarchy and Conquest, c. 1580–1760. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-05407-0.
• Maha Sithu (2012) [1798]. Myint Swe; Kyaw Win; Thein Hlaing (eds.). Yazawin Thit (in Burmese). Vol. 1–3 (2nd printing ed.). Yangon: Ya-Pyei Publishing.
• Pan Hla, Nai (2005) [1968]. Razadarit Ayedawbon (in Burmese) (8th printing ed.). Yangon: Armanthit Sarpay.
• Royal Historical Commission of Burma (2003) [1832]. Hmannan Yazawin (in Burmese). Vol. 1–3. Yangon: Ministry of Information, Myanmar.